I've been on Jordan Staal / NHL Draft / Jerry Sandusky duty tonight, so I've only managed to catch snippets of this one, but the Pirates took a 4-1 win over the Tigers. This is a really nice win, given how tough this series figured to be.

The Bucs got two runs in the first. Alex Presley led off with a double, then scored when Neil Walker hit an opposite-field single. Walker came home later in the inning when Garrett Jones grounded into a double play.

The Pirates added their other two runs in the second inning. Pedro Alvarez and Rod Barajas singled, and then Doug Fister's throwing error allowed both to come home when A.J. Burnett hit into a force attempt.

A.J. Burnett went six scoreless innings, striking out four and walking three. (He benefited from an excellent sliding catch by Alex Presley to end the second.) The Tigers scored their only run off Jared Hughes in the seventh as Jhonny Peralta and Ramon Santiago hit back-to-back doubles. Santiago's double narrowly missed clearing the wall. The Pirates then brought in Tony Watson, who whiffed Austin Jackson with two men on to shut down the threat. Joel Hanrahan picked up the save, striking out two in the ninth.

Andrew McCutchen went 3-for-4 on the night but did not drive in or score any runs.